The 13th event of the 2010 European Bowling Tour, the BNC Bratislava Open, got underway Monday with the first four of total 24 qualifying squads at BNC Bowling Center in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Róbert Záhora (pictured left), Slovakia, who bowled in the second squad, had games of 221, 223, 222, 244, 231 and 163, to set the pace after the first day of qualifying with 1304 six-game total and an average of 217.33.

Michal Vceliš, Czech Republic, closed out his series with 262 but fell four pins short of the lead to sit in second place with 1298.

Squad 1 leader Ladislav Bitto, Slovakia, is third with 1284 and is followed by Squad 4 leader Diego Biolghini, Italy, with 1266 including a 278 in game #6, the high game of the tournament thus far. The top 4 players are automatically qualified for the finals on Sunday.

Petra Brzicová Hanzlovská, Czech Republic, led Squad 4 with 1203 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour, and is the best of 11 woman in the 86-player field in 12th place.

Qualifying continues through Saturday and will end with the one-game Desperado Squad scheduled for 0.30 a.m. on Sunday morning.

The BNC Bratislava Open is a newcomer on the European Bowling Tour and will be held from Aug. 23-29, 2010 at BNC Bowling Center, a 16-laner in Bratislava, Slovakia. The tournament offers total prize fund of 40.000 Euro with 5.000 Euro going to the winner. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour

The tournament is the 13th stop of the 2010 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Silver" tournaments. 100 ranking points are on the line for the winner of the men's and women's rankings in Bratislava, respectively.

Since the Ankara Open and the Austria Challenge have been cancelled, the 2010 EBT Tour consists of 19 events - 2 EBT Platinum tournament (formerly Premier), 6 EBT Gold tournaments (formerly Major), 7 EBT Silver tournaments (formerly Challenger) and 4 EBT Satellite tournaments (new category).

Qualifying continues until Saturday, Aug. 28th. A total of 64 players will advance to the finals on Sunday: The top 48 players from the overall qualifying standings, plus the top 4 from a separate leaderboard of the Squads on Wednesday, Tuesday and Monday, who are not among the top 48. The last four spots are reserved for the top 4 of the Desperado Squad.

The top 16 qualifiers earn two byes, while players seeded 17-32 bypass the first round of the finals.

The remaining 32 players will bowl 3 games starting from scratch with the top 16 advancing to the second round. The second and third round will be played in the same format. The 16 players, who advance to the fourth round will carry forward the pinfall total from Round 3 and bowl another 3-game block to cut to the top 8 for single-elimination match play.

Match play consists of two games, with the total pinfall to determine the winner. The field will be trimmed to 4 then two players who will bowl for the title and the 5.000 Euro top prize.

 

Qualifying Standings after Squad 4/24

Pos	Player	G1	G2	G3	G4	G5	G6	Pins	Avg.	Hc	Total
1.	Róbert Záhora	221	223	222	244	231	163	1304	217.33		1304
2.	Michal Vceliš	202	204	198	238	194	262	1298	216.33		1298
3.	Ladislav Bitto	219	231	253	224	148	209	1284	214.00		1284
4.	Diego Biolghini	178	147	235	235	193	278	1266	211.00		1266
5.	Craig Nevatt	238	185	216	223	166	220	1248	208.00		1248
6.	Stefano Oddi	186	179	203	197	213	259	1237	206.17		1237
7.	Karel Kutina	191	206	235	224	178	200	1234	205.67		1234
8.	Csaba Rácz	204	209	205	173	244	199	1234	205.67		1234
9.	Michal Spodniak	169	203	215	205	223	217	1232	205.33		1232
10.	Anthony Lum	229	174	206	204	213	190	1216	202.67		1216
11.	Roman Dyršmíd	195	204	197	188	173	247	1204	200.67		1204
12.	Petra Brzicová Hanzlovská	207	189	194	214	178	173	1155	192.50	48	1203
13.	Jirí Kurzveil	171	163	185	195	242	245	1201	200.17		1201
14.	Zoltán Skobrics	166	157	156	244	244	234	1201	200.17		1201
15.	Jaroslav Lorenc	216	169	177	201	244	182	1189	198.17		1189
16.	Radek Pospíšil	151	236	241	206	184	171	1189	198.17		1189
17.	Lukáš Hurych	193	200	196	147	234	214	1184	197.33		1184
18.	Marcel Hedl	218	198	192	168	190	213	1179	196.50		1179
19.	Katerina Beštová	146	210	211	227	179	156	1129	188.17	48	1177
20.	Ondrej Å eben	192	224	213	168	160	203	1160	193.33		1160
21.	Michaela Volšícková	157	193	173	192	190	206	1111	185.17	48	1159
22.	Rostislav Kala	231	184	220	161	211	149	1156	192.67		1156
23.	Jana Lébrová	221	184	175	170	168	189	1107	184.50	48	1155
24.	Gergely Kapronczay	149	190	227	204	199	179	1148	191.33		1148
25.	Martin Slavkovský	155	200	212	191	189	197	1144	190.67		1144
26.	Jan Korab	179	155	277	194	147	190	1142	190.33		1142
27.	Andrea Fedeli	187	185	181	172	192	218	1135	189.17		1135
28.	Filip Križka	154	203	201	198	184	195	1135	189.17		1135
29.	Vladimír Trcka	158	234	180	188	195	180	1135	189.17		1135
30.	Petr Mrácek	176	212	168	201	189	187	1133	188.83		1133
31.	Petra Stanková	178	175	171	178	211	168	1081	180.17	48	1129
32.	Dana Hanušová	181	148	178	140	213	210	1070	178.33	48	1118
33.	Radek Lanc	153	220	168	202	180	194	1117	186.17		1117
34.	Michal Loucka	191	182	192	182	202	168	1117	186.17		1117
35.	Petr Žvácek	182	210	194	173	198	157	1114	185.67		1114
36.	Peter Melkner	205	153	176	226	178	172	1110	185.00		1110
37.	Zdenek Žabka	189	221	192	160	149	198	1109	184.83		1109
38.	Daniel Sedlácek	188	175	188	204	168	185	1108	184.67		1108
39.	Karel Bárta	172	211	244	168	174	137	1106	184.33		1106
40.	Marek Keckéš	171	175	212	161	208	173	1100	183.33		1100
41.	Michal Homola	165	219	177	128	223	187	1099	183.17		1099
42.	Jirí Vrážel	196	183	166	168	202	178	1093	182.17		1093
43.	Ivan Lank	172	158	218	165	170	209	1092	182.00		1092
44.	Olajos Mihály	177	170	154	164	210	216	1091	181.83		1091
45.	Janusz Pietraszek	208	180	159	204	140	186	1077	179.50		1077
46.	Mária Tóth	165	124	145	183	199	211	1027	171.17	48	1075
47.	Ján Remenár	146	175	188	198	183	184	1074	179.00		1074
48.	Jozef Viskupic	155	135	185	211	167	218	1071	178.50		1071
49.	Tomáš Benko	223	181	152	211	158	145	1070	178.33		1070
50.	Miroslav Koník	178	142	188	175	193	189	1065	177.50		1065
51.	Blanka Hanusíková	156	176	178	155	198	153	1016	169.33	48	1064
52.	Libor Mach	157	159	185	175	174	213	1063	177.17		1063
53.	Máté Orosz	190	186	170	144	193	170	1053	175.50		1053
54.	Viliam Koška	155	147	168	205	185	188	1048	174.67		1048
55.	Milan Cepregi	148	171	162	205	154	204	1044	174.00		1044
56.	Luciano Giuliani	188	136	182	189	186	161	1042	173.67		1042
57.	Marek Neumann	215	192	137	110	199	179	1032	172.00		1032
58.	Vratislav Kulhánek	152	189	164	158	145	222	1030	171.67		1030
59.	Fero Csandal	163	173	172	180	170	169	1027	171.17		1027
60.	Tomáš Krepindl	210	170	137	150	168	189	1024	170.67		1024
61.	Milan Bittersmann	182	166	147	172	183	171	1021	170.17		1021
62.	Adam Vondrácek	178	151	158	178	192	155	1012	168.67		1012
63.	Peter Pargác	176	163	159	171	125	201	995	165.83		995
64.	Matej Fotko	163	137	198	171	147	177	993	165.50		993
65.	Veronika Pospíšilová	151	163	142	180	134	163	933	155.50	48	981
66.	Ondrej Mlynár	156	147	121	194	156	202	976	162.67		976
67.	Jana Pindurová	133	160	145	170	145	175	928	154.67	48	976
68.	Ivan Hrabinský	200	154	143	157	152	168	974	162.33		974
69.	Dušan Turóci	158	164	193	176	127	149	967	161.17		967
70.	Pavol Keckéš	168	135	142	146	190	181	962	160.33		962
71.	Pavol Galba	201	124	136	160	177	162	960	160.00		960
72.	Miroslav Slezák	140	183	139	121	209	167	959	159.83		959
73.	Vladimír Cíferský	158	201	171	110	175	144	959	159.83		959
74.	Roman Kuciak	195	181	138	159	153	132	958	159.67		958
75.	Roman Vrána	160	134	139	152	181	166	932	155.33		932
76.	Daniel Duleba	185	154	127	126	167	172	931	155.17		931
77.	Erich Pisarski	174	142	134	165	193	118	926	154.33		926
78.	Andrej Unger	159	161	143	141	123	198	925	154.17		925
79.	Rastislav Galát	132	149	152	158	151	170	912	152.00		912
80.	Lubomír Otec	165	140	139	172	142	148	906	151.00		906
81.	Lubomír Korbaš	122	112	133	159	141	225	892	148.67		892
82.	František Pokus	179	128	139	147	123	172	888	148.00		888
83.	Anna Turóciová	147	136	136	127	154	133	833	138.83	48	881
84.	Pavol Magula	172	137	185	142	130	104	870	145.00		870
85.	Matej Slezák	122	114	144	164	147	165	856	142.67		856
86.	Branislav Krajcovic	136	147	167	132	124	134	840	140.00		840